BBYW Vol. 1 Chapter 9
Chapter 9 – Puberty is Awkward for both Parent and Child
Margrave Maxwell manor, study.
I was sitting at the desk, looking at documents, a rarity for me.
I was more of an outdoor person: even for work, I usually preferred to be in the field, giving orders directly.
Not everything could be done that way, of course, so sometimes I took care of the paperwork.
Presently in the study, there were only two people: me and my father, the current Margrave Maxwell.
It felt somewhat awkward working alone with my father. I had nothing to talk about with him and the mood was kind of tense.
Father seemed uncomfortable too: I found him glancing my way a few times while we worked. He could have gone ahead and spoken up if he had something to say, but apparently he found it as difficult as me to find a topic.
The awkward mood was finally disrupted when a third party entered the study.
“Excuse me, my lord, young master.”
The third-party was the house steward.
He usually called me “Lord Dyn”, like he did when I was a child, but, when I worked, he would use the term “young master”.
“I have presently returned. I apologize for making you wait.”
“Yes, thank you for your hard work.”
My father, looking very relieved, greeted the house steward.
The house steward had participated in the wedding ceremony of house Nommes in my stead.
“The wedding ceremony of young Lady Nommes and Lord Sullivan was held without a hitch. They were extremely pleased by the congratulatory presents and entrusted me with a return gift as well.”
“I see, good to know that everything went well.”
My father sighed in relief.
Naturally, I had reported everything about Sullivan’s rampage when he came to visit.
Sullivan had gone so far as to say he’d give his fiancee, Selena, back to me. Father was surely worried whether he would actually be in the ceremony.
“Excellent, like the old man said. How did the ceremony go?”
The house steward nodded and started explaining.
“The close relatives of house Nommes all participated in the ceremony, but house Efreeta, house Silfis, house Ondine, and other direct retainers of house Maxwell were not present.”
“Well yeah, I suppose they wouldn’t. What about the nobles from the capital?”
“Some friends of Lord Sullivan were present, but they were all counts or lower-ranked nobles. Duke and marquis houses only sent messengers, apparently.”
“I see.”
The royal family’s powerful nobles had completely abandoned Sullivan then.
About the same time as Sullivan and Selena’s marriage was officially registered, the royal family announced that Sullivan’s younger brother, the second-born prince, was the new crown prince.
The reason why Sullivan was removed from his position as crown prince was not that “He picked a fight with house Rosais and house Maxwell”, but embellished as “He found true love”.
According to the royal family’s announcement, Sullivan had fallen in love with a low rank noble.
A forbidden love between a man and a woman already engaged to others.
In order to be with his true love, Sullivan voluntarily relinquished his title of the crown prince and cut all ties with the royal family.
Moved by their pure love, house Rosais and house Maxwell gave their blessings to their union, thus Sullivan married into the house of Baron Nommes…or so the announcement said.
(Duke Rosais wrote the plot, I guess. It’s almost admirable how they can serve the royal family, despite being betrayed like that.)
I silently praised Duke Rosais, a model of nobility in my eyes, then crossed my arms and thought out loud.
“Now there’s zero chance for Sullivan to ever return to the royal family. Will that unstable fool accept this situation though…?”
“You talk as if you have nothing to do with it…that all happened because you pushed him too hard, didn’t it?”
Father sighed hopelessly and rebuked me.
“He picked a fight with me first. Without proper retaliation, the Maxwell house’s reputation would have suffered, wouldn’t it?”
My fiancee was snatched away and I was humiliated in public: if I just sucked it up and did nothing, it would look like the Maxwell house was the royal family’s lapdog. Even if the royal family was superior in rank, we needed to show that they couldn’t just do anything they wanted.
“Besides, looking at the results, I’m pretty sure it’s a good thing that guy isn’t the crown prince anymore. If he became king, the country would definitely fall in chaos.”
“I know that much.”
Father shook his head even more hopelessly, then continued.
“What I want to say is that there was no need to force him on the Nommes house! If that wretched imbecile becomes the next Baron Nommes, the province will definitely suffer!”
Wretched imbecile? The old man sure had a way with words too.
Well, after knowing of Sullivan’s recent rampage, I suppose it would be normal to describe him like that.
“I agree completely about that. Having him marry into the Nommes could have been shallow thinking on my part.”
I spread my arms wide and expressed agreement with my father’s words.
Father was rubbing his temples, as if trying to suppress a headache.
(I made him worry…his hair will get even whiter than before.)
I looked at my father’s pate and regretted giving him more things to worry about — a little.
I had no intention of troubling my father, nor did I wish the eastern province to fall into disarray.
So I was honestly sorry that my actions resulted in this outcome.
“Anyway, don’t worry about it, father. I have an idea about how to deal with Sullivan.”
I sowed the seeds, so it was time to reap them.
To be perfectly honest, now that I had dragged him off the crown prince throne and tossed him into the baron house, I had little interest left in Sullivan, but I had to carry out my responsibility until the end.
“…what are you plotting this time?”
“Lord Dyn, please do not overdo it…”
“Haha, don’t call me that when I’m working. It’s all right, I won’t overdo anything, nor will I trouble the old man this time.”
I meant to ease their concerns, but both the house steward and father looked even more apprehensive than before.
(They don’t trust me one bit, huh…oh well.)
“You really don’t need to worry, okay? I’m not going to do anything complicated. If Sullivan acts in a way fitting to his current status, then okay. If he doesn’t, then I’ll just do what my position as the margrave’s heir compels me to. I am just going to give Sullivan a *test of loyalty*, to see if he’s fitting to become a noble of the eastern province.”
“…Is that so, anyway, I leave it all to you.”
“And you will not regret that you did. You might as well leave those documents to me too, I already finished my share.”
“…………”
I took the documents from my father’s exhausted hands and continued doing my job as the margrave’s heir.
There was still some time left before a new commotion struck the eastern province of the Lamperouge kingdom.